One-pot thioetherification of aryl halides with thiourea and benzyl bromide in water catalyzed by Cu-grafted furfural imine-functionalized mesoporous SBA-15.

Surface functionalization of SBA-15 followed by its reaction with Cu(OAc)(2) has been carried out to develop a new Cu-grafted functionalized mesoporous material, which catalyzes one-pot three component coupling of different aryl halides with thiourea and benzyl bromide in aqueous medium to produce aryl thioethers in very good yields (80-88%).